Metal, Shelves, and Dusty Floors
by claraowl
Summary: Levy was in pursuit of a book. Gajeel was in pursuit of a bookworm. GaLe fluff. Oneshot!


**Hello, and welcome to my very first **_**Fairy Tail**_** fanfiction! I hope that you enjoy this, and that I've done a moderately good job of keeping them IC. I own this not, but as I can see Mavis, I'm a member of Fairy Tail!**

Levy hummed happily, her head flung back as she searched the upper bookshelves for something to read next. She bounced on the balls of her feet, trying in vain to get a clearer view of the highest shelf. Clouds of dust skirted up around her ankles, stirred by the bouncing motions of her heels. After making a mental note to sweep at some point – or, preferably, get someone else to sweep – she placed one foot gingerly on the rim of a bookshelf, testing to see if it would hold her weight; the shelf held. Moving slowly and carefully, she began climbing towards her destination.

"What on earth are you doing, shrimp?"

"Getting a book," she replied, not bothering to look at her questioner; she knew Gajeel's voice.

"Why d'you need to climb a shelf?" he did not lean against the bookshelves as he usually would have, but instead stayed behind Levy.

"Because I can't see the top shelf from the floor, and I've already read all the other books."

"You're going to fall."

"Which is why you're standing behind me, right?" Levy smiled, having finally reached the top shelf. "Hmm…"

"Hurry it up," the iron dragon slayer huffed, silently worried.

"You're right behind me, right?" the blue-haired wizard inquired, choosing her books.

"Yeah, so?" Gajeel deadpanned, eyes boring holes in the back of her head.

"Catch!" she called over her shoulder as she let go of the shelves and hugged her books to her chest, falling backwards.

Gajeel caught her, more out of habit than anything else. "You and your crazy trust exercises. Who caught you before I was around?"

"No one, as I didn't need to climb up there yet," Levy replied simply, her feet dangling in midair. "Will you let me down now?"

Gajeel sighed, plopping her somewhat gently upon the dusty floor. "Fine. Scram and enjoy your book."

"Books, plural," she corrected, getting to her feet, her treasure cradled in her arms.

"You sure?" he replied, smirking and holding one of her books above his head.

"Gajeel," she intoned warningly, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah?" he smirked, challenging her.

"My book, please." She hugged her remaining treasure close to her and put out her other hand, palm up.

"What's the matter, can't you reach it?" he laughed, using his free hand to ruffle her hair.

Levy huffed at him, hitting his hand away, and chose not to dignify his inquiry with a response. Gajeel grinned at the contact.

"Not even going to try, squirt?"

Levy rolled her eyes at him and retreated a few steps; she then summoned her magic and pointed her fingers at the ground. A stepstool appeared in front of Gajeel; she stepped onto it and found herself at eye level with her dragon slayer. The hand holding her remaining treasure found the suddenly-frozen Gajeel's shoulder for balance as she raised herself onto her toes; she leaned forward, reaching for her captive treasure.

Gajeel was entranced; this proximity was something unfamiliar outside of life-threatening situations. Her hand was on his shoulder; if he were to step backward, she would fall into his arms. He huffed, mentally berating himself for such lovesick thoughts. This wasn't some sappy romance story – he was simply capturing her book – and her attentions – for the purpose of irritating her. The shrimp was, after all, almost completely his opposite; in traditional fairy tale terms, she was the princess and he was the dragon. She bounced on the balls of her feet to get a grip on the book; he bent his elbow slightly, unintentionally allowing her to grasp her treasure. He internally smiled as her soft fingers extracted her book from his rougher ones, and mused upon how unusual it was for a princess to rescue treasure from a dragon.

Having reclaimed her rightful possessions, Levy sank back down to her heels and met Gajeel's eyes. "Who said anything about not trying?"

"Why didn't you do that in the beginning, instead of climbing the shelves?" he snorted.

Levy simply stuck her tongue out at him in reply, nearly licking his chin in the process. "There's no challenge in it! Would you have preferred me to have climbed up _you_, instead?"

Gajeel rolled his eyes, grateful that he did not easily blush. "Why would I care? You're so small that I probably wouldn't even notice."

"I'm not small, I'm fun size!" Levy grinned, hopping back to the floor.

"Want me to have some fun with you?" Gajeel inquired, smirking and raising an eyebrow; his hand found her hip.

"Nah, I've got some books to read," she grinned in reply, shaking free, "but enjoy the snack!"

She turned and dashed down the hall, leaving Gajeel staring after her receding dust cloud – someone really did need to clean the floor. He then crouched down to look at what he had thought was a stepstool.

Whatever it was – for it was definitely not a stepstool, of that much he could be sure – appeared to be wrapped in cloth. Curious, he tugged at the edges until they fell open to reveal the content. It was a piece of iron, much like the one she'd given him during the S-class trials – complete with the heart in the 'o.' Gajeel, experiencing mild embarrassment and a happiness to which he would never admit, quickly ate the evidence before standing up to pursue his favorite bookworm. All that remained of their small encounter was a disturbed patch of dust and a few stray bits of iron.

Later, down in the main part of the guild, Levy was searching for a bookmark. She had, for whatever inexplicable reason, managed to lose every single one that she owned. This was, by any normal standards, not all that impressive – but Levy being Levy, this was saying something. She had once lost a pile of books in a pile of bookmarks, despite the seeming impossibility of this statement. Growling in frustration, she finally tore off a piece of a napkin and stuck it in her book. Then, upon hearing her name, she went over to another table for a few minutes, leaving her book on the table.

When she returned, she found a flat, paper-thin piece of iron where her shredded napkin had been, with the word 'book' etched onto the iron's surface. The centers of the vowels were the same shape as the center of the one in Gajeel's snack. She grinned, caught a nearly-blushing Gajeel's eye, and mouthed her thanks before returning to the tales of fairies in the guild of Fairy Tail.

**I hope that you enjoyed it! Please review~!**


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